Pertinent questions

I would request the experts on floodwaters, rains, glaciers and barrages to help me with the following information. First, what finally happened to the Atabad Lake and did it have any impact on the current floods? Second, by what percentage did the rains in northern areas, Swat Valley, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan contribute to over all floods in rest of the country. What was the contribution of Swat, Chitral, Kabul and other northern rivers and how much did the discharge from Tarbela and cuts at various other points like Kalabagh, Chashma, Taunsa, Guddu, Sukkur, Kotri etc contribute to the over all flood? Why was the situation of barrages so precarious and at what places were breaches made by whose orders and how? Who were the concerned government officials and MNAs, MPAs etc? I also wish to know what impact did Chenab and Jhelum waters have on floods? Why were there no floods in Kabul, indeed in entire Afghanistan and the Indian side up north? Are we in a wet cycle or is it the impact of deforestation or it because of negligence in our duty of looking after the river banks, barrages, levees etc. I would request the government to punish the looters in flood-affected areas and also those who have been profiting by manipulating prices. -ALI QUERASHY, Dubai, August 20.